1. Support socks. Blood clots can form in the lower legs from sitting too long in a fixed position, which is the definition of commercial flying. Wearing support hose on longer flights, especially the return trip, can reduce the odds. For flights under three hours and for people under forty, support hose is not necessary unless you already have some hint of leg circulation problems.

On long flights for people over forty, circulation problems can happen for the first time, which means thinking it won’t happen to you because there are no warning signs is an error.

Take ibuprofen and wear support hose to bring your odds of getting blood clots back to where you thought they were in the first place. Aisle walking and high-stepping in the restroom for ninety seconds is a big help too.

2 Incidentals money. If you checked a bag and for any reason it’s missing when you arrive at your destination, most airlines will either reimburse you for reasonable expenses, up to $50, or give you that amount to get you through the day. Depending upon the case you make with the agent, a larger reimbursement might be granted. If the luggage takes more than twelve hours to find you, some airlines, like Delta, will also reimburse the checked bag fee in the form of a coupon off future flights.

Once you find the baggage service desk, ask the clerk what to check on the baggage claim form or for the relevant form for expense reimbursement so they don’t bounce your request later on a technicality. Save your receipts for items like makeup, socks, sun hat, sweater, hair spray, underwear, deodorant or whatever you purchase during the time your luggage is unavailable. These receipts may be required to get the reimbursement.

Most airlines practice stonewalling, and most people requesting compensation for their out-of-pocket expenses or even totally lost luggage are met with the outrageous demands of ‘proof’ for every item in the luggage. The Department of Transportation requires airlines to compensate passengers for provable loss up to $3,300 per passenger for domestic flights and $1,742 for international. If the airline is being uncooperative or has disallowed necessary expenses (such as a suit for a job interview), go to www.dot.gov/airconsumer to fill out an online complaint. If that has no effect, filing in small claims court, which can cost between $25 and $75, often prompts them to settle with you.

3 Empty water bottle. While you cannot bring liquids over 3.4 oz. past the scanners, you can bring empty bottles. They must be fully empty. Containers less than 3.4 oz. can be full, part-full or empty. An eight oz. bottle with two oz. of fluid left in it won’t get past the eagle eyes of the TSA. Yes, goofy but true. Bring your own empty bottle from home and fill it at any bubbler once you’re past the scanners. All planes have dry air. It sometimes takes the flight attendants one and a half hours to serve drinks to your row, and even if you get your drink early, you may find your throat is dry an hour later. Good luck with trying to get another drink from the cart.

Select a sturdy soda or iced tea bottle instead of a flimsy water bottle. These hold up better if you forget to let it ‘breathe’ when landing, and are less likely to spring a hole if roughly handled, such as pinched in the seatback magazine pocket while half full.

4 There’s big money in being bumped. If you have the time, airlines will pay you to take the next plane. If you don’t get a boarding pass until one hour or less before the flight, you may be involuntarily bumped. They may offer an incentive to passengers with seats to give them up, but sometimes everyone is in a hurry. The rules on how much compensation you get for losing at musical chairs on an overbooked flight are based on how much later you land: for domestic flights, between one to two hours, the cost of the one-way ticket fare, up to $400. Between two and four hours, 200% of the one-way fare, up to $650. Four and up, 400% of the one-way fare up to $1300. You’re entitled to get it in cash, so if the airline offers a voucher for air travel, insist on cash.

International flights are: one to four hours, 200% of one-way fare up to $650, and over four, 400% up to $1300.

When they offer an incentive for a volunteer, they aren’t bound by these rules. Commonly, they offer a free round trip voucher when the next flight might be three to six hours later. If the flight isn’t until tomorrow, they usually include a hotel room and meal. It doesn’t hurt to ask for cash. I have heard there are people who fly at the busiest time and take the bump deal, which keeps them rolling along on free flights for years.

5 What’s a good airline to use? The question is impossible. The true answer, there is no good airline, is of no use. Every airline has its hate club. Each has not ten or twenty but hundreds of people who make it their mission in life to bad-mouth that airline.

Some of the problems are systemic, and it was just luck of the draw that this person encountered it while using that airline, or maybe five or six incidents while using that airline. People in hub cities hate their primary airline the most. If you fly enough, you’ll have stories.

The real answer is, you need to take the reins of your flying experience. Keep the trickiness and special needs to a minimum. Study the airline rules and comply. Be your own advocate. Speak up when there’s still time to do something about it. Don’t count on others to see your predicament. Even when you’re upset, take a breath and describe the situation in clear, unambiguous words, do not keep saying “I’m upset! I’m so angry! This is awful!” or use swear words that shed no light on your situation. A happy trip should not depend upon the intuition of strangers.

6 The couples trick. This may not work well anymore, but I’ll share it anyway. On planes with three-across seats, a couple booking early would pick the aisle and window seats in a row, hoping that by flight time no one will be assigned their middle seat. Result: more room, more overhead bin space. If the middle seat does get assigned and the couple really prefers to sit together, they have to sweet-talk the middle person into switching to either the window or aisle seat.

7 Frequent Flyer points. Overseas travel is not a good use of your points. Not only is it hard to get the best flight times without booking eleven months ahead, but they tack on so many charges in addition to points that you will feel like an idiot for incurring that delay and fuss for a savings of about $500 a round trip. For the same points you can make two domestic round-trips that normally cost $500 each, with a tiny airport fee. Or you can upgrade four round trips to first class for the same points. Earn points with overseas trips, use them for domestic flights for the best bang for your buck—um, point.

8 Checked luggage at connections. The rule of thumb is if there is less than one hour between planes, your bags are unlikely to make it from the first to the second plane. The airline will send them on the next flight to that city. At baggage claim you fill out a form that tells them where to deliver the bags when they arrive. Frequent travelers become indifferent to this. They even like it; now they don’t have to struggle their own bag on trains and busses, it just shows up at the hotel ten hours later. Frequent travelers even take a photo of their checked bag at home and print out a copy to keep in the carry-on. If the checked bag is tardy, the printout can be attached to the missing bag form to help airport staff identify it when it arrives.

9 Falling luggage. I’m always nonplussed at the random items people put in the overhead bins. One would expect a tidy row of wheeled bags and duffels. A typical loose item may be a nine pound computer tipped at an angle between two bags. This item is likely to tumble out when the bin is opened—and guess what, if you are the person clicking opening the bin, you are legally liable for injury to other passengers.

Not the airline. Not the owner of the item. You. The injured passenger sues you. The guy whose belonging was wrecked by the fall sues you. There are lawyers who specialize in this lucrative niche. When you open that bin, do it slowly and have the other hand at the ready to brace against any stray item inclined to fall out.

10 Late Arrival. It’s a good idea to request ‘late arrival’ when booking a hotel, regardless of the time you expect to arrive. If your flight is entirely called off, be sure to call the hotel as soon as you know. If you don’t, you might be charged in full for that night.

If you haven’t requested late arrival and you’re delayed, call the hotel as soon as possible to inform them of your new arrival time. Hotels will sell reserved rooms as early as 7 PM if they don’t hear from you.

Late flight? Strung out from the road? A little luxury might be to call your hotel while renting a car or catching the free shuttle to order room service food, so it will be ready when you arrive.

11 Upgrade to First Class. When you’re at the gate, a half hour prior to boarding you may see a lot of action at the counter. Airlines like to fill the plane up, and sometimes the empty seats are in front. That means some lucky dog who paid for a coach seat bumps into First class. Passengers put their name on a list.

These bumps usually go to passengers who

1) fly often;

2) have a frequent flyer card;

3) paid for a more expensive coach seat, i.e. a refundable;

4) have the airline’s credit card.

As a newbie flyer your chances are slim, but go ahead and add your name to the list if you feel like it. The first time I was bumped to first class I had none of those things going for me, I was just very nice to the staff on a stressful day.

Car in long-term parking.Clear out personal items visible through the windows before leaving home. Remember to lock the car doors as you walk away. People who suffer break-ins usually had items like jackets, CDs, and other attractive items laying on the car seats. Shoving stuff down in passenger side footwell can lead a passerby to assume something nice is being hidden. You may suffer the indignity of having your window broken but none of your junk taken.

Airports have developed a protocol and procedures that are consistent around the globe. If you know what to expect at one airport, you know them all. The layout is another matter. No two are alike. It’s feasible to never study an airport map at all, just follow the signage. But it can be less stressful if you know the lay of the land and have a rough idea whether Gate B and Gate D are five minutes apart or twenty-five minutes apart, or the checked bags will appear for pickup way on the opposite side of the airport, so you can meter your speed accordingly.

Airports have maps on the airport’s website; usually you have to click through some menus to find it. Sometimes it can be sent to a printer.

Airlines partner with other airlines. For instance, Delta partners with Alitalia, so while you think you’ve bought a seat on a Delta flight earning Delta frequent flyer miles, at the airport it’s the Italian airline both ways. Adapt, don’t get stuck on finding Delta; if the flight number is the right one, it is yours.

All airports have:

Almost no clocks in the public areas.

People making mistakes about the time in the layover city and missing their flight.

Parking, long-term and short term.

Short term parking is far more expensive and is charged by the hour, not day.

Slightly more economical parking off-site or farther away that provides a free shuttle bus to bring you to the terminal (airport). It arrives irregularly and no one can tell you how long until the next appears. The driver merely goes back and forth, so distance determines the interval.

Different Arrivals and Departures areas, which are often on different floors. Arrivals are usually below.

A baggage delivering carousel, or several, in the Arrivals area. The term is carousel, although it looks like a tilted conveyor belt.

For Departures, a big open area lined on one or two sides with counters, with each airline having a section of the counter in proportion to the amount of flights it has going in and out.

Lines are formed in snake fashion with waist-high pillars joined by car seatbelt material, and it’s considered very improper to go under them, even if it means you weave through empty space to get to the front.

A scanner station manned by TSA employees, to scan carry-on bags and people, located between the airline counters and the ‘gates’—gates are gathering areas for a flight. It’s a term. Gates are numbered, in sequence—usually.

A requirement that all travelers have a boarding pass to proceed past the scanners.

Well-marked large and frequent signs for gate locations.

Food and drink retailers, mainly major fast food chains, both before and after the scanners; however drink (and some foods) purchased before the scanners will need to be discarded in the garbage cans just before the scanners. Count on eating it entirely before going through the scanners.

Food and drink that is purchased after the scanners may be brought onto the plane without issue.

No-fly times when planes cease taking off and landing in the middle of the night. The time they cease depends on local ordinance; some are as early as 10 PM, others 1 AM. If your evening flight is delayed past that time, you cannot fly anywhere until morning.

Flights that begin again, depending upon local ordinance, between 5:30 AM and 7 AM.

Lots of people milling about, waiting. Lots of sturdy chairs that actually get worn out from fidgeters.

Airport staff and helpful people who will give you wild-guess directions and advice rather than admit they don’t know

Electronic ‘boards’ high on walls or hanging from the ceiling that list airline, flight number, gate letter-number, and the time it will arrive (or leave). In general, it can be counted on that the flight will never leave sooner (unless the plane is fully boarded) but it can leave later. More than two hours before the flight, the gate, flight time and whether it is cancelled or delayed are unreliable. Walk back to one of them to check again one hour before the flight.

Nice restrooms. Sufficient restrooms.

Drinking fountain by the gate restrooms that you can use to fill an empty water bottle.

An area where local (or downtown) hotels provide free shuttles to their building. Often, not always, no evidence of being booked at that hotel is required to get on.

Signs that get you close to the location for bus, train and taxi. It is usually not obvious where these actually are from the position of the last sign. You may need to ask someone who works at the airport after the signage peters out.

All planes have:

Seatbelt extenders, if the belt doesn’t quite reach around you.

One to three magazines in the seatback pocket in front of you that you may read and take with you if you like. One of the magazines has airport maps on a couple of the last pages. These are so stylized and vague that they end up being little help, but they can shed light on whether you’ll need to board an in-airport shuttle train or which direction to head after you land.

A wax paper bag in the seatback pocket that you are supposed to use if you feel like throwing up.

At least two bathrooms.

Skinny aisles.

Louder engine and air noise in the rear of the plane than nearer to the front.

Tray tables that can be used to prop a book, a computer, or set food on.

An emergency exit training class early in the flight that causes new flyers anxiety but bores the rest.

Beverage service with rolling carts and a process for serving drinks so time-consuming and in crying need of an industrial engineer to remove all the non-value-adding motions that it often takes over an hour for a pair of servers to pour thirty cups of juice and twenty-five coffees each.

A flight attendant that opens and closes a drawer 180 times to serve 180 bags of nuts (or shortbread). I keep hoping one of these days she will grab three at a time and reduce that to 60 open and closes.

Drink and food service that starts at the front. They run out of the ‘good entree’ before the last six rows. On flights less than two hours they may run out of time before they serve the final rows and simply secure the cart for landing.

Flight attendants who keep an eye on the bathroom so a couple doesn’t go in together, ostensibly to join the ‘mile high club.’

Staff who come around after drink service with a garbage bag but don’t make eye contact and walk by swiftly, leaving your little pile on the tray table.

Windows and reclining seats, except in those locations where they don’t, and obstructed views by the wings.

Inadequate pressurization; how much ear pain and temporary deafness you have upon landing depends upon whether the airport is at sea level or higher. Picking a higher airport for layovers, like Salt Lake City or Denver, if all else is equal, reduces pain if you are prone to slow ear adjustment when flying, since at ground level SLC is 12.6 psi, not 14.7 psi like at the coasts. Planes pressurize because up where they fly it’s about five psi, but each psi costs money so airlines vary on how well they do it. If they pressurized to twelve psi you would barely feel anything in your ears on landing.

Credit-card only payments for food and alcoholic drinks on the plane, if they aren’t clearly stated to be included when buying the ticket. Saying food is ‘available’ means it can be purchased.

Not as much drinking on flights as there used to be. If you need fortifying prior to the flight, arrive early and grab a snootful at a bar after the scanners, or get one ‘to go’ if local ordinances allow that.

Flight attendants who have more emergency and medical training than you think

Find out if inoculations are needed. Visit www.cdc.gov/travel to look up the countries you will visit. Do this early because some require a series of shots and others take time to be effective.

Check your passport.Many countries will not let you in if your passport expires in six months or less. Don’t push the envelope; if you will have less than ten months left on your passport the day you leave the US, get a new one now.

Get some arm strength. Lifting and hiking around heavy baggage can leave you sore the next day. Do arm exercises that also strengthen your back and shoulders a little. Do it like the pros: exercise to fatigue every second or third day, not every day, to build muscle.

Start a packing list. Each trip is a little different. Start with the packing list in the last chapter, but add things as they occur to you. If you don’t add, “Pack a US flag to wave during the event,” no standard list here or anywhere is going to remind you ‘US flag.’ Ditto if you want to bring balloons to decorate the room for someone’s mid-trip birthday or bring specific jewelry. Don’t count on thinking of it again later. As obvious as it seems at the moment, write down additions to the travel list the moment they occur to you.

Group the list by where the item will be: suitcase, Liquids bag, Toiletries bag, Electronics, Purse, briefcase.

Get used to standing. If you’re a person with a sitting down job, put more standing into your day. Get your feet toughened to standing four hours and more per day.

Visit the dollar store. All your travel-size product and empty container needs may be fulfilled for under $10.

Test the ear plugs.Nothing is more dismaying than planning a good in-flight sleep only to find the ear plugs you purchased cause pain or distract you after only an hour or two. On a day when you don’t need an alarm clock, sleep the night with the earplugs.

Test run the changes. Stick with your usual deodorant, shaving cream, lotions, hair spray. If you’re switching to a brand with a travel size, buy it a few weeks ahead and use it for five days. If you still like it, fine. But if not, you have time to try something else.

Create a gift list. You may think you’ll just pick up a few things for family, friends, and helpers, but when you get home with three scarves and four refrigerator magnets that don’t seem appropriate for anyone, you’re sunk. Having a list and earmarking each purchase for a specific person prevents returning with a small pile of ‘gifts’ that aren’t used.

Arrange pet care for dogs or cats.If considering a kennel, a good plan is to let the pet visit the kennel ahead of time. On the first visit leave the pet for about an hour, then take them home. On the second visit, leave them for four to eight hours, perhaps overnight, then take them home. Having a third visit is even better. This way you communicate to your pet that this place is temporary and you’re coming back for them. Too many times people take their beloved pet to a kennel and return a week later to find their grief-stricken pet is never the same again. Never quite as happy or trusting.

Most cats can manage with a daily visit by a neighbor, but you are a better judge of whether your cat is like ‘most’ cats. Dogs require exercise and at least two longer visits per day. When leaving a dog or cat in the home, leave a radio on, tuned to a close station with no static or hums, to kill the overwhelming silence. Don’t make it loud; low enough to not interfere with conversation is fine because they have pretty good ears.

Cage animals like lizards, rodents, birds, fish and the like aren’t so broken up about a change in care; carrying them to stay with someone is better than piling up the food and water and leaving them alone if no one is willing to reliably visit them daily and do the work. The time of highest stress and risk is while taking them to the temporary home. Some vacation-related deaths I know about began with the stress or temperature change during the trip to or from the caretakers. Mind the temperature.

Buy tickets for your must-do attractions. The vast majority of travelers just get some travel books, collect a list of things to see and go. Then they end up standing in lines for hours. If there is something you really want to see, visit that website ahead of time. Make sure it’s open and see if you can buy tickets ahead of time and breeze in.

Get a tan.Sunburn is a fun-killer. Most people have a nice indoor job and suddenly change to spending four to nine hours a day outdoors. Sunscreen is sticky and messy and you can only bring 3.4 oz. of it per container, plus with all the strangeness and rush you’ll forget to put it on. A handful of sessions in a tanning booth or just tanning in the yard can increase your tolerance from thirty minutes to burn to three hours to burn. Combined with a sun hat or baseball cap, and sticking to areas under awnings, this is enough to skip packing sunscreen entirely. If you’re worried about health, one tan isn’t going to risk your life or make you wrinkle up permanently. We were designed for being in the sun.

Pick two or three credit cards.It’s safer if one is MC, one VISA, and one whatever you want. Keep the rest at home. Hunt down the four-digit pins for cash advances, and if you can’t find them, apply for new pins. ATM cards have spotty performance in other countries, and depending upon your bank, maybe in the US. Leave yourself a cash advance option. Having the pins could save your vacation.

Hold the mail. This can be done about four weeks ahead. Simply visit www.usps.com and click “Manage Your Mail” then look for “Hold Mail” in the pull-down menu. Fill out the form and you’re done. They improve their website regularly so it could look different.

Driving.If you plan to drive overseas, you may need an international driver’s permit in addition to your regular driver’s license; check the individual regulations for your destination country. Most people can obtain this permit for under $20 from an AAA office, the National Auto Club or by mail. Google International Driving Permit for more information. You’ll need your passport, current driver’s license and some proof of your flight. Ideally, apply two to four months in advance.

Suspend newspaper delivery. Like holding the mail, it takes several days to kick in, so three days’ notice may not be enough.

The Week Before

Cull through wallet contents. Remove every card that won’t be used, library card, business card, etc. Don’t lug around a single thing that has no chance of being used. Take your insurance cards along, though. You might even get away with not bringing a wallet at all, if you’re bringing a fanny pack or other item that will always go with you.

Pick the carry-on bag. When your main luggage is checked or in the overhead bins, you’ll need something for medicines, cell phone, gum, Kindle, neck pillow, etc. Consider a simple string bag. It can be used as a pillow. It seals up tight, so can be foot-nudged under the seat in front without losing any contents. If you decide to buy a sub sandwich or cinnamon roll to eat on the plane, it’s easily contained within during boarding. Women can stash their purse, bottle of water and sweater or fleece scarf in a string bag worn on their back, making it much easier to lift the main bag into the overhead bins. Walking down the aisle is a breeze without a purse catching on every third row, and then you just step into your seat, sit down leaning slightly forward, then unshoulder the bag while seated. When the flight is over, the bag can be balled up and stashed in purse or pocket. It makes a great daybag at the beach or while shopping or sight-seeing.

If you will have trouble lifting your bag overhead, it’s better to look around sheepishly—stronger people will nearly always offer to help—rather than kill thirty seconds trying to struggle it up yourself before getting help.

Inform the credit card companies. For cards you’re bringing along, go on-line or phone the issuer to fill out a travel notification. Tell them the end date is several days past the real end date. This reduces hassle if some businesses are slow in turning in the charges, or if delays or bump offers result in a longer stay.

Find these numbers. Write them in a card in your wallet plus program them into your phone.

Airline’s 800 Customer Service number

Hotel’s local front desk number (not the 800 number)

Credit card’s Traveler’s Assistance number

Car rental local number (or 800 if they don’t have one)

Cell phones of people you will be meeting or seeing

Tour guide company emergency line

Tip: type them in a Word doc, then print at 60% reduction or whatever to make a lot of data fit in a small space. Glue it to a business card and keep in your wallet.

Wear the shoes. Make sure the primary shoes are bearable for several days of use.

Tip: if you think a pair of shoes might be rough on the back of your heels or on one of the toes, put foam tape or an adhesive bandage in that spot right from the start. Don’t wait until the first layer of skin is gone.

Use the copier. For foreign travel, make two color copies of the photo page of your passport; leave one with someone at home that you can reach by phone, and put one in the carry-on bag (not the same bag as the passport!). For any trip, place the credit cards, ATM card, Driver’s License, and medical cards you’re bringing along on the copier and run two copies. Give one set to someone you can reach by phone, and the other in the carry-on bag. After making the copies, write the 800 number for each card adjacent to it, but not the three-digit code from the back. If you get robbed or lose your purse or wallet, make the cancellation calls promptly to mitigate the damage.

Test the alarm clock. Test whatever device you’re planning to use as an alarm clock at least twice before the trip. Does it really go off? Is it a noise that wakes you up? There will be strange and louder ambient noises than you’re used to, such as a loud fan blowing all night. A rendition of “Here Comes The Sun” might not do the trick. Lost opportunities due to oversleeping are a major cause of traveler regrets. A phone is not enough! People forget they flipped the sound off at the restaurant. A wake-up call from the hotel is even more unreliable! Trust me on this, even if that gamble worked out OK for you in the past. There is literally no downside to them for blowing you off. If you get very angry, as some of my friends have, they simply boot you out, so you’re homeless too. For primary alarm, a digital kitchen timer is the best thing around. Set it for seven and a half hours or what have you and start the countdown. Time zone mistakes will have no effect on it. The phone is the backup, not the primary alarm clock. Wake-up call, third.

Get small bills. Whether traveling in the US or International, hit the ground with a good supply of small bills or coins. Tipping shuttle drivers, hotel bellhops, and waitresses is expected and if the smallest you have is a $5 or €5, of course they’ll say they have no change. There are many cases where exact change is a timesaver. Tip: for international travel, the lowest-cost way to get foreign currency is the ATM once you land. Buy hairspray, bottled water or other small item at one of the shops and request small denominations for change.

Pay Bills. Try to pay something towards any bill that comes due in the next few weeks. Online you can schedule payments weeks ahead. Even if the due date is a few days after your return, between going through mail, unpacking and other tasks it could be forgotten.

Mark your bag. There are so many black bags and similar-looking duffels and backpacks. Customize yours with stickers, ribbons tied on or sewn-on patches on at least two sides to make it identifiable at a glance. Be creative. Even if you don’t check the bag, there’s hotel storage, shuttle bus racks, overhead compartments and plenty of other chances for mixups.

Get nails done. But only if you are a person who does that. Starting a vacation with fingers and toes at their best instead of sporting three-week old nail polish just feels better.

Computer backup. If bringing a computer, do a full backup onto a USB storage drive. Don’t forget to make a backup copy of fonts, internet favorites, wallpaper and small programs you’ve downloaded into your Programs folder.

Program to record TV shows.Your cable service usually has a website where you can look up the scheduled programming for the next week or two. If you miss a network show that you wanted to see, visit that network’s dot-com site, CBS, USA, A&E, NBC, ABC for example, the next week; it’s usually available by then for viewing.

For Women only. Pack your tampons or pads, even if your calculations indicate the trip lands between. The reality of female biology is that period timing pulls into synchronicity when living with other women. Traveling for hours on planes and sleeping in hotel beds has that effect. If you’ve been in menopause less than two years, pack supplies when going on a trip, because this may be your last time. Travel will alter your period timing.

Check basement, sheds, windows, etc. Do a walk-around before leaving even if you think all is fine. Just before a two-week trip I found a hose that had been shut off at the sprayer, not the faucet, and that spray unit was already leaking badly. From a window cracked open one inch to dirty dishes with food (attracting vermin) in the basement, a slow twenty minute check of places you haven’t touched for months could save you much misery later on.

Rain. Any cloth top, hoodie or jacket can be made into passable rainwear with the liberal application of spray water repellant. We’re not talking forever here, just two weeks tops. If you have a jacket you want to wear, don’t be so hasty in bringing a second raincoat, consider making this one more water repellant. As they say, test the spray in an inconspicuous place, let it fully dry, to see if it changes anything in a way you don’t like.

Spray the outside of cloth luggage, duffels and backpacks with waterproofing spray. This will help keep your belongings dry if you get caught in a downpour.

Instead, look at your itinerary and envision what you’ll be doing each day. From that, decide what to wear that day.

This clarifies whether you can get by with one pair of shoes or need three, or if it’s worthwhile to bring pajamas or a sweatsuit. A woman doing ordinary tourist activities for a week might find that a pair of jeans and a skirt with pockets covers the situation pretty well. Or perhaps just two pairs of pants.

Packing light is about predicting yourself. If you get a handle on the typical weather and your typical activities, every piece will come home as dirty laundry. Pack no just-in-case clothing. In August, take no sweater. In March, take no t-shirt. If you find you’d like to wear one, buy it.

If you don’t break it down by day, it’s possible to pack three dresses and two pairs of heels for a trip that contains only one fine dining experience. You and your spouse may be open to the fun of sleeping in just your underwear on this trip, but if it includes two nights at a distant relative’s home, packing modest nightwear is necessary. Without a plan that gives equal weight to each day, it’s easy to overpack for the activity that looms large in your imagination and underpack for the normal activities of the other days.

Another approach is to select and put on one complete outfit, shoes, socks, jewelry and all, that is comfortable, weather appropriate, and you could see yourself wearing for fifteen hours straight in museums and churches and walking for five miles. Strip and toss into the carry-on. Grab some spare underwear and socks. Done.

Well, not really. Clothes get sweaty, you sit on something, some days will be a little colder, or a little hotter … so add a second complete outfit, plus a third top. Begrudge every additional item.

In today’s casual environment, most men and women could get by wearing jeans every day. Jeans can go 6-20 wearings between washings, and most people look pretty good in them.

Using pockets for storing important stuff on flight day is a rich source for snafus. The very-very important item is put into the jacket pocket, but an hour or two later it makes sense to wear a different jacket for some very good reason. Item remains in the closet at home. Or the item is in the front pants pocket and walks itself out during the drive to the airport, dropping to the carpet unnoticed. Or the sweater or jacket is tossed on the car seat or carried over an arm on the way to the airport so the item falls out. Or once at the airport you spontaneously decide to toss the too-warm jacket into a checked bag. Now that you know, this will never happen to you, right?

Wheeled bags. Heavier items near the wheels and lighter towards the top. The liquids bag can be placed near the handle or in an outside pocket for easy access in airports. It can be integrated during the trip, but will need to be regrouped into a quart baggie for the return trip. Shoes may be near the bottom but not buried.

Duffels. Balance the weight. It rides much nicer on the cross-shoulder strap if the two ends have heavier weight and the middle is soft, with no computers or heels bumping your hip.

Backpacks. Sequence is everything; for the airport, put shoes, electronics and liquids baggie near the top. You don’t want to totally unpack the thing if the TSA wants to look at the radio or shoes way at the bottom of the bag.

Vacuum bags. These may be OK for a one-destination trip or a cruise, but not a sight-seeing tour involving a new hotel every two days. If the bag gets nicked by the zipper or gets a hole, there goes the advantage. I’m a fan of stuffing items into a smaller container. But these things are time-consuming and finicky to roll up. Keep your return flight in mind; if it’s an early flight a long cab or bus ride away, will you wake up at 4 AM to have enough time to compress everything in?

Instead, roll your clothes up into logs, to stand on end or rest on top of each other. Most of your garments will be visible and selectable without disturbing or removing any other clothes.

Pants. Roll them up. Fold the two legs together, then roll up starting with the waist. Or vice versa, doesn’t matter. Skirts and dresses can be folded into thirds and rolled up, or rolled up without folds for a smaller-diameter but longer item.

Shoes. Play around orienting and nesting them until you find the smallest space. To keep them tight, use the big rubber band from celery, asparagus or other veggie. An option for large or heavy shoes is to place one on each side of the luggage, sole to the outside, or even sole up, facing the lid. The other items will bear against the leather upper. If they might get dirty later on, put each in a plastic bag. Be cognizant that shoes with larger heels are often what TSA will wish to look at, so keep them relatively handy to the opening.

Underwear. Put all underwear in cloth bags, such as the kind that come with liquor or shoes. Checked or carry-on, never use clear baggies for underwear and never leave it loose in a corner. Cloth bags for dirty laundry too. When the TSA encounters a cloth bag, they manipulate it, feeling for hard items. If it’s just all squishy clothes and obvious bra underwires, it passes. So mixing your sunglasses, spare batteries, souvenir belt buckles, candles or any other hard item in with (clean or dirty) underwear is an awful idea; it means the TSA may need to dump it all out on the TSA examining table and fish through your undies to check out the mystery item. Yuk!

Tops. Roll them up too. If needed, a few can be folded normally. If your clothes are in rolls, it’s easy to pick out what to wear. You won’t have to unpack into the drawer or hang things up (unless you want to).

Toiletry bag and shoes are going to be the big items. Get those acceptably positioned, then work the rolls around them.

String bags.I’m a huge fan of these. They serve as an easy daybag (and are an allowed size in European museums) holding a raincoat and purchases. They’re the perfect size for stashing dirty laundry. Stuffed with some clothing, they become a pillow.

Liquids quart bag. This will be outside the toiletry bag for now. You’ll use them the whole trip, but on the last day you’ll have to collect your liquids and reconstitute your liquids bag for the return trip. Sigh. Don’t miss any, it can be big hassle. Actually, I think they invented this rule not for terrorists, but for the travelers who don’t baggie their liquids, which then leak into the overhead bins. If they ever discontinue this rule, please continue to baggie every liquid for airplane flights.

Contact wearers. Saline solution and eye drops are not included in the 3.4 oz. bottle requirement, and do not have to be contained within the liquids baggie. You still have to separate out the bottles and declare them during screening, but you can have a bigger bottle than 3.4 oz. To reduce hassle, print out the rule from the TSA webpage and bring along, in case your TSA screener is unaware of it.

Fragile items. Wrap and insulate them with clothing at the center of your bag. Don’t place them in a corner or edge; make sure every side, top and bottom has padding playing interference for the odd bump.

Luggage pockets. These are good places for the paperwork related to your trip, for chargers, kindle and magazines. I prefer to clip my water bottle to the luggage rather than to myself. It bops around a bit, but it’s not as annoying there as on my hip.

Bring what looks good on you, is comfortable and is appropriate for the weather. There will be many photos; this isn’t the time to tie your hair back, go make-up-less, or wear old t-shirts. Dress the way you want to look for posterity.

Mix and match? If you wear exactly the same top with the same bottom every other day for ten days, there’s no downside. If you like the outfit and it flatters you, it doesn’t have to go with any other thing in the luggage.

Consider polyester. Polyester tops hang attractively, never wrinkle, weigh less and stain less. The thin ones can be cooler than cotton in hot weather and don’t show sweat like cotton does.

Cotton isn’t always the best for travel. Cotton changes color when wet, gets clammy, gets stinky, gets salt stains from sweat that are hard to get out. There are better breathable, quicker-drying shirt materials out there.

Travel scissors, the folding kind, are legal for carry-on. How well the rules are understood varies from day to day, by agent or airport. These are legal, and when folded up in the toiletries bag do not draw attention to themselves.

First Aid Kit List

Adhesive bandages

Folding scissors

Ibuprofen

Carmex

Birth control items

Antacid

Medication you need

Antihistamine pills

Anti-diarrheal pills

Hand sanitizer/single packs

Foam tape

Fiber tablets

Liquid ibuprofen (for children)

Copies of prescription for vital medications

Foam tape.

Hand Sanitizer.Packing a tiny bottle is fine, but even better is buying a box of individually wrapped sanitizer towelettes. The packets do not need to go into your liquids bag. They’re good for face washing, cleaning a cut, cooling a sweaty neck, and a little cover if touching something unsavory.

Antihistamine. It’s very common to react to something on vacation, even if you’ve never had an allergic reaction before. It’s a real timesaver to have a couple of these in a foil sheet and not have to go hunting for a store that sells it. The standard brands like Claritin, Benadryl, Allegra or Zyrtec are good choices. Benadryl will cause drowsiness, which may allow it to do double-duty for help sleeping. These may react with other medications, so check that out. Try taking a dose several days before the trip to see how noticeable the side effects are, if any.

Ibuprofen is the traveler’s friend. It makes sleeping in uncomfortable chairs possible, it makes sore feet bearable, it makes your functional day a little longer and your mood slightly better. Whether it is earaches, blisters, pinched fingers, sunburn, a bad bruise or losing a filling, it can help you bull through your vacation with some level of enjoyment until you return home. It has anti-blood-clot powers and swelling-reducing powers that acetaminophen (Tylenol) does not. Taking it before a tour improves stamina. It calms sore muscles, relieves headaches, and helps backaches. The pills are small and light and improve quality of life. Don’t travel without them.

Liquid Ibuprofen. I travel with an unopened bottle of baby ibuprofen, the kind with an eyedropper inside. Babies tend to get ear infections when traveling, new parents are by definition inexperienced, so of course they don’t see this coming. I had one too many plane, train or bus trips marred by a child in terrible pain. When it happens, I simply hand over the entire still-sealed bottle to the child’s caretakers. It costs five dollars, what a bargain.

Medication.Keep prescription medication in the original container for the plane flight. Liquid medication larger than the allowed 3.4 oz. size is permitted if it’s in the prescription bottle or you have a note from your doctor. If the medicine needs to stay cold, place it in an insulated bag with frozen gel packs right out in the open, and tell the security screener. Putting prescription medication into smaller baggies, especially mood-changing or pain meds, can look suspicious. Reduce hassle by using only bottles with the name of the traveler on them.

Pack as much medication as you need, plus a few more days minimum. It’s a good idea to split the medication up, some in your purse and the rest in your luggage or in your room. The idea is to reduce risk if ‘something happens’ and in my experience the risk between purse that goes everywhere with you and the bag left alone in the room is about fifty-fifty. If your estimation of risk is different, put the medication in the least risky place. A room safe is the best place to store all medications; daily, take along two days’ worth of medication in case you are waylaid for any reason.

Some countries may require special permission to bring certain medications across their border. To find out if your medication is an issue when traveling internationally, visit the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s website, wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel

Part of packing light can be done by cheating. Wear your heaviest clothes to the airport, even two or three tops, and remove them in the restroom before boarding or once you get on the plane.

Put some heavy things in your pockets before approaching the airport with its bag-weighing stations, and when you get to the scanners, simply empty your pockets like you’re supposed to, into the tub, and on the other side who cares if those items go back into the pockets or into the bag? Obviously this won’t work for twelve pounds of stuff, but it’s feasible to fudge two or even four pounds this way.

Some airlines have weighing stands at the gate too. If you spot equipment for weighing bags at the gate, keep the heavy pocket stuff in your pockets until you’re on the plane.

A new trend is wearable luggage. The idea is you wear several more items of clothing that you normally do, and buy their jacket or vest with many pockets to store spare shoes, unmentionables, and toiletries. Time will tell if this gets popular, but based on the early-stage wearable-luggage items I saw, there’s plenty of room for improvement in the garment.

I am a big fan of good, large-size pockets in travel clothes.

Tip: Take pants having dinky pockets that barely hold a crumpled tissue to a tailor to get new, deep pockets that can hold a cell phone plus passport, pen and travel pack of tissue. Each. This works excellently with jeans and khakis.

Consider taking an article of clothing you like to a tailor to have an interior pocket added, in lieu of using a money belt. Selecting and buying the pocket material yourself and bringing it with the garment to the tailor means you have a little more control over color and thickness. Tip: cut a piece of cardboard to the largest size object you want to slip in and out and fit nicely within, and give it to the tailor for sizing the pocket.

There are vests with many pockets. They’re called fishing vests and they’re available for both men and women. In practice, vests are unflattering, sweaty, yet don’t keep you warm. A problem with fishing vests is the pockets may not be the size you need.

Whether vest or deeper pockets, at the TSA scanners the vest will need to be taken off and dropped into a bin. Clothes pocket items also go into the bins. The vest can travel through with all contents unless they ask to see something.

Another way to cheat is to buy hair spray, mousse, lotion, shampoo, conditioner, sunscreen, toothpaste, even deodorant once you arrive. See what your hotel provides, and get the rest in a nearby drugstore. In Europe, Profumeria, or perfume stores, sell the kinds of things we usually buy at drug stores: shampoo, bug spray, sunscreen, deodorant, hairbrushes, etc.

The other way to cheat is to buy clothes there, and bring only underwear. Don’t laugh; this makes a lot of sense when the appropriate clothes might be hard to find this time of year where you live, but will be all they sell where you are going. If your destination is a city or near a mall and you have a few spare hours early in the trip, it could be part of the fun.

Standing in line.If you are in danger of missing your plane because you’re standing in line, are in the rear of the plane with a tight connection, and so on, bring your plight to the attention of the airline staff while there’s sufficient time to help you. Do not sit there and stew. This isn’t taking skips. They are in the business of flying customers to their destination, you’re a customer, and this is what it takes.

It is way more trouble for everyone if you miss the flight.

Ask for help before the situation is impossible.

IT IS NOT TAKING SKIPS.

It is doing what it takes to get you on your flight. They will call a golf cart to whisk you to your next plane. They will even hold the plane for you. But folks, give them some time to work with, don’t hog those last minutes so they have to jump hoops and sprint on your behalf.

It is LESS RUDE to draw attention to your situation with thirty minutes to go, when you can walk yourself to your gate and the plane leaves on time.

Pretend I’m a fellow passenger twelve people ahead of you in line. Me: “Please, you go first, I don’t want you to miss your plane, mine takes off in two hours, I’m just here to read my Kindle and sip a coffee.” The other eleven people chime in “Yes, I totally agree, I’m not such a meany that I want you to miss your flight, I’m a nice person.”

This is not the grade school lunch line, and the issue isn’t the chocolate chip vs. the oatmeal raisin cookie; this is hundreds of dollars at stake or your once-in-a-lifetime venture, and if you don’t engage a staffer for thirty seconds of help now, in twenty minutes a staffer will spend twenty minutes on you, getting you on some other flight.

IT IS NOT TAKING SKIPS.

If you didn’t manage to get a seat near the front of the plane and have a less-than-forty-five minute layover, or delays on this flight ate up your layover time, talk to the flight attendant at least half an hour before landing. He or she can get on the PA to ask everyone to remain seated for five seconds longer to let the passenger in 31C get to the front to make a tight connection. A golf cart will be waiting for you. Doing this is preferable to requiring the airline to offer a bribe for someone to give up their seat on the next flight so you can board that one.

The flight attendant will check your connecting flight. It may turn out your connecting flight is also delayed two hours, so there you go. No need to get your stomach in a knot.

You are not a little leaf buffeted by winds, powerless to control your destiny. You are a customer, and every employee will mobilize on your behalf to make sure you fly from A to B with the least hassle to themselves. Flying in the seat you reserved, not taking someone else’s seat later on, is the least hassle.

If you miss your connecting flight, stand in line for the gate agent to help you, but also get on your cell phone to call the airline’s customer service number (have it programmed into your phone before leaving). The faster you are served, the more seats are available.

When does ten minutes = $500? When you phone the airline before the flight to say you won’t make it vs. phoning after it took off. They can reschedule you for a fee that ranges from $75 to $250 depending upon airline, but only if you reach them before the flight so someone else can use your seat. Those are the rules. Tip: even if it’s past the departure time, don’t waste a minute, make that call. If the plane was delayed and is still at the gate, you’re in luck. The later in the day it is, the luckier you’ll get, since flight delays approach 30% after 6 PM. Have the airline’s 800 number in your contacts list for just this reason.

The line at the counter for your airline’s boarding passes and checked bags can be long and move very slowly. Taking two hours is common. If it’s an hour before the flight by the time you get to the front, your well-chosen seat could be gone.

A rule of thumb is the more flights an airline has in or out of that city, the longer the line. If flying out of Atlanta, Delta lines will be huge because that is their hub city. Frontier lines, with only three destinations out of Atlanta, will contain only passengers for the next flight out.

Airlines hold your chosen seat, within reason. If an hour before the flight they have not heard from you, all bets are off. Should they ‘know’ that if anything happened to you, your relatives would call to cancel? Actually, there is a slim chance of that happening if something goes awry.

If you printed out your boarding pass and noted that you will be checking a bag, most, not all, airlines have kiosks, little side stands, to weigh and tag your checked bags that take a fraction of the time. Be sure you go to the one for your airline, not some other airline. Things are often pretty close together and not clearly marked.

It hardly bears mentioning, but I will, that it’s important to really listen to the airport staff when they ask questions and not give agreeable answers in small talk tones. If he chirps “Flying US Air today?” as he tags your bag at the kiosk or she says “Going to New York today?” as she prints the boarding pass … when today you are flying to Rome on United with a three-hour layover in New York, this is the way disasters happen.

Correct them! Even if you said uh-huh as soon as you heard the ‘U’ sound, STOP. Say: Sorry, I misspoke, I’m flying on United. Say: Oh no, I’m going to Rome, not New York. Take these points of contact seriously.

If you are checking luggage, get in line immediately upon arriving at the airport because how long it takes is a wild card. That short line may tempt you to grab a coffee first, but ten minutes later it could be sixty-five people long. Go through the scanners with time to spare, because that’s a wild card too. The guy in front of you could tie it up for ten minutes.

After you get through, find one of those Arrivals and Departures signs, usually large black boards mounted high on walls or hung from the ceiling, having lighted columns and rows of airlines, flights, destinations and times listed. You might have to walk a bit and look around a lot before spotting one. Look for your flight number and airline. Check whether the gate and time match the ones on your boarding pass. If not, go to the ones on the sign. You don’t need to get a new boarding pass, but you do need to show up at the right gate.

The cardinal rule of airports is everybody—everybody—keeps their own boarding pass on them at all times. Even very young people. If one person keeps all the boarding passes and another person decides to walk around or visit the restroom and they’re stopped by a guard and found to be on this side of the baggage scanners without one, they could be evicted or detained. Huge hassle and pain in the neck.

Overhead bins.Carry-on luggage goes into the bin in top first, wheels out. Tapered/soft end toward the wall, wider/harder towards the aisle. It seems natural to slide it in wheels first, with the handle facing you. However, it will fit better and take up less space if it goes in top first, with wheels looking at you. Most 21” high carry-ons will fit easily only if their wide end matches the bin’s widest part.

The last thing you want is to draw the attention of the flight attendants with a bag that doesn’t seem to fit in the overhead bin. They may insist you check your bag. Fussing and holding up the line as you wiggle and force your bag in will cost you. Literally. Just remember, lay it on the large flat side, top in first, for the best odds of tucking in perfectly on the first try.

If the weight is a bit much to insert in a smooth motion, make eye contact with stronger people around you; nearly always one will offer to place it up.

Your personal item is supposed to go under the seat in front of you. One bag up, one with you. People who place a 21” suitcase plus their briefcase up there cause delays. That last guy who can’t fit his suitcase in the overhead bin has to check his bag, involving running a credit card and holding up the plane’s departure. The plane can’t taxi away until all bags are stowed. After everyone has boarded, if there’s still room, then sure, throw a jacket, a personal item, or a briefcase up there before take-off.

It is permissible to shove widely-spaced bags as firmly as necessary to fit one more in—but no cursing or comments. Because the space is defined as ‘first come, first serve’ the flight attendants are forbidden to ask previous loaders to stow their personal item under their seat—but you are free to ask.

Since people may unthinkingly place everything up there out of habit with no intention of being rude, bring the situation to their attention in a pleasant helpful voice. If your bag won’t fit because it needs three more inches, asking a family to stow a shopping bag or large purse under the seat is reasonable.

If a flight attendant spots this going on he or she might give you a hard time, but something you and another traveler work out is fine; just say “I got this, it’s a mutual arrangement, there’s no problem.”

Departing. Even up to two hours before your flight, gate assignments and departing time can change. If it’s forty minutes before your flight and you don’t have much company at your gate, or the sign above the gate desk doesn’t say your flight, find a Departures sign for your airline, talk to the airline staff, get help. No one will bother to find you and no one will tell you the plane is at a different gate unless you ask.

Airlines fib. They will say a flight is on-time up until ten minutes of the departure time. If you’re sitting at your gate and forty minutes before your departure time there is no plane pulling up or no plane parked out there, it’s going to leave late. It takes at least fifteen minutes for passengers to disembark, then another fifteen to twenty for the cleaning staff to do their thing, then another fifteen to board new passengers.

I used to check whether the flight was delayed before leaving home, and it’s worth doing for weather-related delays, but some airlines call every flight ‘on-time’ three hours out unless there’s a storm.

Leaving late or experiencing a lengthy sit on the tarmac doesn’t always mean it lands similarly late. Airline schedules take into account some tarmac-sitting, and it’s possible for the plane to go faster, similar to going 75 on a 65 MPH interstate freeway, making up ten minutes each hour in the air.

Most airlines board by zone, but each one does it a little differently. First class and business class boards first, but from then on it varies. Your ticket will have a big number or letter on it, so when they call your zone – “Zone 1 may board now.”—you can go. An exception: if you and your travel companion are different zones, usually both of you can board together at the earlier zone.

It works best if the rearmost seats board first, then the middle, then the front, but some airlines do window seats first, then middle, then aisle.

Other airlines succumb to making a status thing out of it, with those buying more-legroom seats also getting higher priority.

While boarding early guarantees room in the overhead bins, usually there is room for every bag anyway. The advantage of an extra fifteen minutes of sitting loses charm towards the end of the flight when your butt is screaming to get out of that chair. To me there’s no downside to stay standing as long as possible before the flight starts, as long as it doesn’t block traffic.

Do not be the last to board. If you hate to stand in lines so think you’ll sit in the café until five minutes before departure and waltz onto the plane, think again. If the plane is overbooked they will have given your seat away three minutes ago, even if you have a boarding pass. They’ll think, maybe he fell down the steps or something.

Two, when all the waiting people are processed, the gate staff glances up to see if anyone is rushing their way, and if none, give the OK to remove the boarding ramp from the plane. About 20% of the time a plane will close the doors a few minutes before the listed departure time. About 10% of the time they’re actually taxing away a few feet at the listed departure time.

When a plane is overbooked, a flight attendant will walk up and down the aisles looking for empty seats. Those seats are given away before departure.

Food on the plane.After clearing the scanners, you can pick up a sandwich and coffee or soda to eat on the plane. If you have an hour before boarding, you may as well eat at the airport. The food will taste better.

Long ago, food was actually good on the plane. Now they can’t make a ham and cheese sandwich without giving it odd transfer flavors from adjacent materials. Not that they would serve something as universally enjoyed as a ham and cheese or a hamburger with chips. In trying to go foo-foo they mess up almost every recipe into unrecognizability.

Today all the meals and bigger helpings of snacks are purchased via credit card, no cash.

Being hungry when you land is a wonderful thing. Nothing plunges you right into your destination more than grabbing a bite to eat.

Food you can bring from home, in your carry-on, in the US: Fritos, chips of all sorts, nuts, Pop Tarts, gum, granola, trail mix, cookies, crackers, candy bars, hard candies, dried fruit, and bread, to name a few. You can bring dry packages that need hot water to reconstitute, such as oatmeal and soup. When the beverage cart gets to your row, ask for a cup of hot water. They carry it for hot tea.

Food you can’t bring from home, unless it is in a small container in your liquids baggie: liquids, peanut butter, jelly or jar food. Ham salad or other mushy food. Avoid stinky foods like beef jerky, cooked veggies, etc.

The important thing is, don’t hide it or forget to mention it. Present it up front. It’s a longer fuss-fuss if they find jars of baby food or formula in your carry-on that you didn’t mention.

My favorite trip food is a baggie of Fritos. It served as my supper on many a trip. When traveling with children, packing some of their favorite cereal or snack food is almost mandatory. Amusing a child on an air flight is a tough job. They’re not going to meet you halfway because they know no matter what they do, you’re stuck playing the nice person to your huge audience of strangers listening to every word. Plus, they sense your general nervousness or heightened excitement about flying, and it’s disturbing to see a parent have anxiety. So they’re going to get rigid about what they like to do and eat. Have their favorites at hand.

Standing in line.If you are in danger of missing your plane because you’re standing in line, are in the rear of the plane with a tight connection, and so on, bring your plight to the attention of the airline staff while there’s sufficient time to help you. Do not sit there and stew. This isn’t taking skips. They are in the business of flying customers to their destination, you’re a customer, and this is what it takes.

It is way more trouble for everyone if you miss the flight.

Ask for help before the situation is impossible.

IT IS NOT TAKING SKIPS.

It is doing what it takes to get you on your flight. They will call a golf cart to whisk you to your next plane. They will even hold the plane for you. But folks, give them some time to work with, don’t hog those last minutes so they have to jump hoops and sprint on your behalf.

It is LESS RUDE to draw attention to your situation with thirty minutes to go, when you can walk yourself to your gate and the plane leaves on time.

Pretend I’m a fellow passenger twelve people ahead of you in line. Me: “Please, you go first, I don’t want you to miss your plane, mine takes off in two hours, I’m just here to read my Kindle and sip a coffee.” The other eleven people chime in “Yes, I totally agree, I’m not such a meany that I want you to miss your flight, I’m a nice person.”

This is not the grade school lunch line, and the issue isn’t the chocolate chip vs. the oatmeal raisin cookie; this is hundreds of dollars at stake or your once-in-a-lifetime venture, and if you don’t engage a staffer for thirty seconds of help now, in twenty minutes a staffer will spend twenty minutes on you, getting you on some other flight.

IT IS NOT TAKING SKIPS.

If you didn’t manage to get a seat near the front of the plane and have a less-than-forty-five minute layover, or delays on this flight ate up your layover time, talk to the flight attendant at least half an hour before landing. He or she can get on the PA to ask everyone to remain seated for five seconds longer to let the passenger in 31C get to the front to make a tight connection. A golf cart will be waiting for you. Doing this is preferable to requiring the airline to offer a bribe for someone to give up their seat on the next flight so you can board that one.

The flight attendant will check your connecting flight. It may turn out your connecting flight is also delayed two hours, so there you go. No need to get your stomach in a knot.

You are not a little leaf buffeted by winds, powerless to control your destiny. You are a customer, and every employee will mobilize on your behalf to make sure you fly from A to B with the least hassle to themselves. Flying in the seat you reserved, not taking someone else’s seat later on, is the least hassle.

If you miss your connecting flight, stand in line for the gate agent to help you, but also get on your cell phone to call the airline’s customer service number (have it programmed into your phone before leaving). The faster you are served, the more seats are available.

When does ten minutes = $500? When you phone the airline before the flight to say you won’t make it vs. phoning after it took off. They can reschedule you for a fee that ranges from $75 to $250 depending upon airline, but only if you reach them before the flight so someone else can use your seat. Those are the rules. Tip: even if it’s past the departure time, don’t waste a minute, make that call. If the plane was delayed and is still at the gate, you’re in luck. The later in the day it is, the luckier you’ll get, since flight delays approach 30% after 6 PM. Have the airline’s 800 number in your contacts list for just this reason.

The line at the counter for your airline’s boarding passes and checked bags can be long and move very slowly. Taking two hours is common. If it’s an hour before the flight by the time you get to the front, your well-chosen seat could be gone.

A rule of thumb is the more flights an airline has in or out of that city, the longer the line. If flying out of Atlanta, Delta lines will be huge because that is their hub city. Frontier lines, with only three destinations out of Atlanta, will contain only passengers for the next flight out.

Airlines hold your chosen seat, within reason. If an hour before the flight they have not heard from you, all bets are off. Should they ‘know’ that if anything happened to you, your relatives would call to cancel? Actually, there is a slim chance of that happening if something goes awry.

If you printed out your boarding pass and noted that you will be checking a bag, most, not all, airlines have kiosks, little side stands, to weigh and tag your checked bags that take a fraction of the time. Be sure you go to the one for your airline, not some other airline. Things are often pretty close together and not clearly marked.

It hardly bears mentioning, but I will, that it’s important to really listen to the airport staff when they ask questions and not give agreeable answers in small talk tones. If he chirps “Flying US Air today?” as he tags your bag at the kiosk or she says “Going to New York today?” as she prints the boarding pass … when today you are flying to Rome on United with a three-hour layover in New York, this is the way disasters happen.

Correct them! Even if you said uh-huh as soon as you heard the ‘U’ sound, STOP. Say: Sorry, I misspoke, I’m flying on United. Say: Oh no, I’m going to Rome, not New York. Take these points of contact seriously.

If you are checking luggage, get in line immediately upon arriving at the airport because how long it takes is a wild card. That short line may tempt you to grab a coffee first, but ten minutes later it could be sixty-five people long. Go through the scanners with time to spare, because that’s a wild card too. The guy in front of you could tie it up for ten minutes.

After you get through, find one of those Arrivals and Departures signs, usually large black boards mounted high on walls or hung from the ceiling, having lighted columns and rows of airlines, flights, destinations and times listed. You might have to walk a bit and look around a lot before spotting one. Look for your flight number and airline. Check whether the gate and time match the ones on your boarding pass. If not, go to the ones on the sign. You don’t need to get a new boarding pass, but you do need to show up at the right gate.

The cardinal rule of airports is everybody—everybody—keeps their own boarding pass on them at all times. Even very young people. If one person keeps all the boarding passes and another person decides to walk around or visit the restroom and they’re stopped by a guard and found to be on this side of the baggage scanners without one, they could be evicted or detained. Huge hassle and pain in the neck.

Overhead bins.Carry-on luggage goes into the bin in top first, wheels out. Tapered/soft end toward the wall, wider/harder towards the aisle. It seems natural to slide it in wheels first, with the handle facing you. However, it will fit better and take up less space if it goes in top first, with wheels looking at you. Most 21” high carry-ons will fit easily only if their wide end matches the bin’s widest part.

The last thing you want is to draw the attention of the flight attendants with a bag that doesn’t seem to fit in the overhead bin. They may insist you check your bag. Fussing and holding up the line as you wiggle and force your bag in will cost you. Literally. Just remember, lay it on the large flat side, top in first, for the best odds of tucking in perfectly on the first try.

If the weight is a bit much to insert in a smooth motion, make eye contact with stronger people around you; nearly always one will offer to place it up.

Your personal item is supposed to go under the seat in front of you. One bag up, one with you. People who place a 21” suitcase plus their briefcase up there cause delays. That last guy who can’t fit his suitcase in the overhead bin has to check his bag, involving running a credit card and holding up the plane’s departure. The plane can’t taxi away until all bags are stowed. After everyone has boarded, if there’s still room, then sure, throw a jacket, a personal item, or a briefcase up there before take-off.

It is permissible to shove widely-spaced bags as firmly as necessary to fit one more in—but no cursing or comments. Because the space is defined as ‘first come, first serve’ the flight attendants are forbidden to ask previous loaders to stow their personal item under their seat—but you are free to ask.

Since people may unthinkingly place everything up there out of habit with no intention of being rude, bring the situation to their attention in a pleasant helpful voice. If your bag won’t fit because it needs three more inches, asking a family to stow a shopping bag or large purse under the seat is reasonable.

If a flight attendant spots this going on he or she might give you a hard time, but something you and another traveler work out is fine; just say “I got this, it’s a mutual arrangement, there’s no problem.”

Departing. Even up to two hours before your flight, gate assignments and departing time can change. If it’s forty minutes before your flight and you don’t have much company at your gate, or the sign above the gate desk doesn’t say your flight, find a Departures sign for your airline, talk to the airline staff, get help. No one will bother to find you and no one will tell you the plane is at a different gate unless you ask.

Airlines fib. They will say a flight is on-time up until ten minutes of the departure time. If you’re sitting at your gate and forty minutes before your departure time there is no plane pulling up or no plane parked out there, it’s going to leave late. It takes at least fifteen minutes for passengers to disembark, then another fifteen to twenty for the cleaning staff to do their thing, then another fifteen to board new passengers.

I used to check whether the flight was delayed before leaving home, and it’s worth doing for weather-related delays, but some airlines call every flight ‘on-time’ three hours out unless there’s a storm.

Leaving late or experiencing a lengthy sit on the tarmac doesn’t always mean it lands similarly late. Airline schedules take into account some tarmac-sitting, and it’s possible for the plane to go faster, similar to going 75 on a 65 MPH interstate freeway, making up ten minutes each hour in the air.

Most airlines board by zone, but each one does it a little differently. First class and business class boards first, but from then on it varies. Your ticket will have a big number or letter on it, so when they call your zone – “Zone 1 may board now.”—you can go. An exception: if you and your travel companion are different zones, usually both of you can board together at the earlier zone.

It works best if the rearmost seats board first, then the middle, then the front, but some airlines do window seats first, then middle, then aisle.

Other airlines succumb to making a status thing out of it, with those buying more-legroom seats also getting higher priority.

While boarding early guarantees room in the overhead bins, usually there is room for every bag anyway. The advantage of an extra fifteen minutes of sitting loses charm towards the end of the flight when your butt is screaming to get out of that chair. To me there’s no downside to stay standing as long as possible before the flight starts, as long as it doesn’t block traffic.

Do not be the last to board. If you hate to stand in lines so think you’ll sit in the café until five minutes before departure and waltz onto the plane, think again. If the plane is overbooked they will have given your seat away three minutes ago, even if you have a boarding pass. They’ll think, maybe he fell down the steps or something.

Two, when all the waiting people are processed, the gate staff glances up to see if anyone is rushing their way, and if none, give the OK to remove the boarding ramp from the plane. About 20% of the time a plane will close the doors a few minutes before the listed departure time. About 10% of the time they’re actually taxing away a few feet at the listed departure time.

When a plane is overbooked, a flight attendant will walk up and down the aisles looking for empty seats. Those seats are given away before departure.

Food on the plane.After clearing the scanners, you can pick up a sandwich and coffee or soda to eat on the plane. If you have an hour before boarding, you may as well eat at the airport. The food will taste better.

Long ago, food was actually good on the plane. Now they can’t make a ham and cheese sandwich without giving it odd transfer flavors from adjacent materials. Not that they would serve something as universally enjoyed as a ham and cheese or a hamburger with chips. In trying to go foo-foo they mess up almost every recipe into unrecognizability.

Today all the meals and bigger helpings of snacks are purchased via credit card, no cash.

Being hungry when you land is a wonderful thing. Nothing plunges you right into your destination more than grabbing a bite to eat.

Food you can bring from home, in your carry-on, in the US: Fritos, chips of all sorts, nuts, Pop Tarts, gum, granola, trail mix, cookies, crackers, candy bars, hard candies, dried fruit, and bread, to name a few. You can bring dry packages that need hot water to reconstitute, such as oatmeal and soup. When the beverage cart gets to your row, ask for a cup of hot water. They carry it for hot tea.

Food you can’t bring from home, unless it is in a small container in your liquids baggie: liquids, peanut butter, jelly or jar food. Ham salad or other mushy food. Avoid stinky foods like beef jerky, cooked veggies, etc.

The important thing is, don’t hide it or forget to mention it. Present it up front. It’s a longer fuss-fuss if they find jars of baby food or formula in your carry-on that you didn’t mention.

My favorite trip food is a baggie of Fritos. It served as my supper on many a trip. When traveling with children, packing some of their favorite cereal or snack food is almost mandatory. Amusing a child on an air flight is a tough job. They’re not going to meet you halfway because they know no matter what they do, you’re stuck playing the nice person to your huge audience of strangers listening to every word. Plus, they sense your general nervousness or heightened excitement about flying, and it’s disturbing to see a parent have anxiety. So they’re going to get rigid about what they like to do and eat. Have their favorites at hand.

Standing in line.If you are in danger of missing your plane because you’re standing in line, are in the rear of the plane with a tight connection, and so on, bring your plight to the attention of the airline staff while there’s sufficient time to help you. Do not sit there and stew. This isn’t taking skips. They are in the business of flying customers to their destination, you’re a customer, and this is what it takes.

It is way more trouble for everyone if you miss the flight.

Ask for help before the situation is impossible.

IT IS NOT TAKING SKIPS.

It is doing what it takes to get you on your flight. They will call a golf cart to whisk you to your next plane. They will even hold the plane for you. But folks, give them some time to work with, don’t hog those last minutes so they have to jump hoops and sprint on your behalf.

It is LESS RUDE to draw attention to your situation with thirty minutes to go, when you can walk yourself to your gate and the plane leaves on time.

Pretend I’m a fellow passenger twelve people ahead of you in line. Me: “Please, you go first, I don’t want you to miss your plane, mine takes off in two hours, I’m just here to read my Kindle and sip a coffee.” The other eleven people chime in “Yes, I totally agree, I’m not such a meany that I want you to miss your flight, I’m a nice person.”

This is not the grade school lunch line, and the issue isn’t the chocolate chip vs. the oatmeal raisin cookie; this is hundreds of dollars at stake or your once-in-a-lifetime venture, and if you don’t engage a staffer for thirty seconds of help now, in twenty minutes a staffer will spend twenty minutes on you, getting you on some other flight.

IT IS NOT TAKING SKIPS.

If you didn’t manage to get a seat near the front of the plane and have a less-than-forty-five minute layover, or delays on this flight ate up your layover time, talk to the flight attendant at least half an hour before landing. He or she can get on the PA to ask everyone to remain seated for five seconds longer to let the passenger in 31C get to the front to make a tight connection. A golf cart will be waiting for you. Doing this is preferable to requiring the airline to offer a bribe for someone to give up their seat on the next flight so you can board that one.

The flight attendant will check your connecting flight. It may turn out your connecting flight is also delayed two hours, so there you go. No need to get your stomach in a knot.

You are not a little leaf buffeted by winds, powerless to control your destiny. You are a customer, and every employee will mobilize on your behalf to make sure you fly from A to B with the least hassle to themselves. Flying in the seat you reserved, not taking someone else’s seat later on, is the least hassle.

If you miss your connecting flight, stand in line for the gate agent to help you, but also get on your cell phone to call the airline’s customer service number (have it programmed into your phone before leaving). The faster you are served, the more seats are available.

When does ten minutes = $500? When you phone the airline before the flight to say you won’t make it vs. phoning after it took off. They can reschedule you for a fee that ranges from $75 to $250 depending upon airline, but only if you reach them before the flight so someone else can use your seat. Those are the rules. Tip: even if it’s past the departure time, don’t waste a minute, make that call. If the plane was delayed and is still at the gate, you’re in luck. The later in the day it is, the luckier you’ll get, since flight delays approach 30% after 6 PM. Have the airline’s 800 number in your contacts list for just this reason.

The line at the counter for your airline’s boarding passes and checked bags can be long and move very slowly. Taking two hours is common. If it’s an hour before the flight by the time you get to the front, your well-chosen seat could be gone.

A rule of thumb is the more flights an airline has in or out of that city, the longer the line. If flying out of Atlanta, Delta lines will be huge because that is their hub city. Frontier lines, with only three destinations out of Atlanta, will contain only passengers for the next flight out.

Airlines hold your chosen seat, within reason. If an hour before the flight they have not heard from you, all bets are off. Should they ‘know’ that if anything happened to you, your relatives would call to cancel? Actually, there is a slim chance of that happening if something goes awry.

If you printed out your boarding pass and noted that you will be checking a bag, most, not all, airlines have kiosks, little side stands, to weigh and tag your checked bags that take a fraction of the time. Be sure you go to the one for your airline, not some other airline. Things are often pretty close together and not clearly marked.

It hardly bears mentioning, but I will, that it’s important to really listen to the airport staff when they ask questions and not give agreeable answers in small talk tones. If he chirps “Flying US Air today?” as he tags your bag at the kiosk or she says “Going to New York today?” as she prints the boarding pass … when today you are flying to Rome on United with a three-hour layover in New York, this is the way disasters happen.

Correct them! Even if you said uh-huh as soon as you heard the ‘U’ sound, STOP. Say: Sorry, I misspoke, I’m flying on United. Say: Oh no, I’m going to Rome, not New York. Take these points of contact seriously.

If you are checking luggage, get in line immediately upon arriving at the airport because how long it takes is a wild card. That short line may tempt you to grab a coffee first, but ten minutes later it could be sixty-five people long. Go through the scanners with time to spare, because that’s a wild card too. The guy in front of you could tie it up for ten minutes.

After you get through, find one of those Arrivals and Departures signs, usually large black boards mounted high on walls or hung from the ceiling, having lighted columns and rows of airlines, flights, destinations and times listed. You might have to walk a bit and look around a lot before spotting one. Look for your flight number and airline. Check whether the gate and time match the ones on your boarding pass. If not, go to the ones on the sign. You don’t need to get a new boarding pass, but you do need to show up at the right gate.

The cardinal rule of airports is everybody—everybody—keeps their own boarding pass on them at all times. Even very young people. If one person keeps all the boarding passes and another person decides to walk around or visit the restroom and they’re stopped by a guard and found to be on this side of the baggage scanners without one, they could be evicted or detained. Huge hassle and pain in the neck.

Overhead bins.Carry-on luggage goes into the bin in top first, wheels out. Tapered/soft end toward the wall, wider/harder towards the aisle. It seems natural to slide it in wheels first, with the handle facing you. However, it will fit better and take up less space if it goes in top first, with wheels looking at you. Most 21” high carry-ons will fit easily only if their wide end matches the bin’s widest part.

The last thing you want is to draw the attention of the flight attendants with a bag that doesn’t seem to fit in the overhead bin. They may insist you check your bag. Fussing and holding up the line as you wiggle and force your bag in will cost you. Literally. Just remember, lay it on the large flat side, top in first, for the best odds of tucking in perfectly on the first try.

If the weight is a bit much to insert in a smooth motion, make eye contact with stronger people around you; nearly always one will offer to place it up.

Your personal item is supposed to go under the seat in front of you. One bag up, one with you. People who place a 21” suitcase plus their briefcase up there cause delays. That last guy who can’t fit his suitcase in the overhead bin has to check his bag, involving running a credit card and holding up the plane’s departure. The plane can’t taxi away until all bags are stowed. After everyone has boarded, if there’s still room, then sure, throw a jacket, a personal item, or a briefcase up there before take-off.

It is permissible to shove widely-spaced bags as firmly as necessary to fit one more in—but no cursing or comments. Because the space is defined as ‘first come, first serve’ the flight attendants are forbidden to ask previous loaders to stow their personal item under their seat—but you are free to ask.

Since people may unthinkingly place everything up there out of habit with no intention of being rude, bring the situation to their attention in a pleasant helpful voice. If your bag won’t fit because it needs three more inches, asking a family to stow a shopping bag or large purse under the seat is reasonable.

If a flight attendant spots this going on he or she might give you a hard time, but something you and another traveler work out is fine; just say “I got this, it’s a mutual arrangement, there’s no problem.”

Departing. Even up to two hours before your flight, gate assignments and departing time can change. If it’s forty minutes before your flight and you don’t have much company at your gate, or the sign above the gate desk doesn’t say your flight, find a Departures sign for your airline, talk to the airline staff, get help. No one will bother to find you and no one will tell you the plane is at a different gate unless you ask.

Airlines fib. They will say a flight is on-time up until ten minutes of the departure time. If you’re sitting at your gate and forty minutes before your departure time there is no plane pulling up or no plane parked out there, it’s going to leave late. It takes at least fifteen minutes for passengers to disembark, then another fifteen to twenty for the cleaning staff to do their thing, then another fifteen to board new passengers.

I used to check whether the flight was delayed before leaving home, and it’s worth doing for weather-related delays, but some airlines call every flight ‘on-time’ three hours out unless there’s a storm.

Leaving late or experiencing a lengthy sit on the tarmac doesn’t always mean it lands similarly late. Airline schedules take into account some tarmac-sitting, and it’s possible for the plane to go faster, similar to going 75 on a 65 MPH interstate freeway, making up ten minutes each hour in the air.

Most airlines board by zone, but each one does it a little differently. First class and business class boards first, but from then on it varies. Your ticket will have a big number or letter on it, so when they call your zone – “Zone 1 may board now.”—you can go. An exception: if you and your travel companion are different zones, usually both of you can board together at the earlier zone.

It works best if the rearmost seats board first, then the middle, then the front, but some airlines do window seats first, then middle, then aisle.

Other airlines succumb to making a status thing out of it, with those buying more-legroom seats also getting higher priority.

While boarding early guarantees room in the overhead bins, usually there is room for every bag anyway. The advantage of an extra fifteen minutes of sitting loses charm towards the end of the flight when your butt is screaming to get out of that chair. To me there’s no downside to stay standing as long as possible before the flight starts, as long as it doesn’t block traffic.

Do not be the last to board. If you hate to stand in lines so think you’ll sit in the café until five minutes before departure and waltz onto the plane, think again. If the plane is overbooked they will have given your seat away three minutes ago, even if you have a boarding pass. They’ll think, maybe he fell down the steps or something.

Two, when all the waiting people are processed, the gate staff glances up to see if anyone is rushing their way, and if none, give the OK to remove the boarding ramp from the plane. About 20% of the time a plane will close the doors a few minutes before the listed departure time. About 10% of the time they’re actually taxing away a few feet at the listed departure time.

When a plane is overbooked, a flight attendant will walk up and down the aisles looking for empty seats. Those seats are given away before departure.

Food on the plane.After clearing the scanners, you can pick up a sandwich and coffee or soda to eat on the plane. If you have an hour before boarding, you may as well eat at the airport. The food will taste better.

Long ago, food was actually good on the plane. Now they can’t make a ham and cheese sandwich without giving it odd transfer flavors from adjacent materials. Not that they would serve something as universally enjoyed as a ham and cheese or a hamburger with chips. In trying to go foo-foo they mess up almost every recipe into unrecognizability.

Today all the meals and bigger helpings of snacks are purchased via credit card, no cash.

Being hungry when you land is a wonderful thing. Nothing plunges you right into your destination more than grabbing a bite to eat.

Food you can bring from home, in your carry-on, in the US: Fritos, chips of all sorts, nuts, Pop Tarts, gum, granola, trail mix, cookies, crackers, candy bars, hard candies, dried fruit, and bread, to name a few. You can bring dry packages that need hot water to reconstitute, such as oatmeal and soup. When the beverage cart gets to your row, ask for a cup of hot water. They carry it for hot tea.

Food you can’t bring from home, unless it is in a small container in your liquids baggie: liquids, peanut butter, jelly or jar food. Ham salad or other mushy food. Avoid stinky foods like beef jerky, cooked veggies, etc.

The important thing is, don’t hide it or forget to mention it. Present it up front. It’s a longer fuss-fuss if they find jars of baby food or formula in your carry-on that you didn’t mention.

My favorite trip food is a baggie of Fritos. It served as my supper on many a trip. When traveling with children, packing some of their favorite cereal or snack food is almost mandatory. Amusing a child on an air flight is a tough job. They’re not going to meet you halfway because they know no matter what they do, you’re stuck playing the nice person to your huge audience of strangers listening to every word. Plus, they sense your general nervousness or heightened excitement about flying, and it’s disturbing to see a parent have anxiety. So they’re going to get rigid about what they like to do and eat. Have their favorites at hand.

Everyone deserves a great flight. You can competently handle whatever comes your way when you know what to expect and know your options.

You can fly with no hassle! From buying a ticket to packing, from choosing a seat to handling the common problems like lost luggage and cancelled flights, you will be smooth and stress-free like a pro.

You can have a comfortable and healthy flight and be ready to start the day with enthusiasm in your destination.

It’s actually easier than you think; the travel industry has developed protocols and customs which have spread everywhere. Surprisingly, a third world country can have a nicer airport than some in the US. Restrooms, snack and magazine-sellers, boarding routines and baggage pick-up will be identical almost anywhere in the world. Credit cards work all over the world.

This book covers buying tickets online, how to pack so you sail uneventfully through the TSA airport security, meeting weight limitations by packing light (and by cheating a little), and ways to improve comfort during the flight.

Best of all, I share the 100% slam dunk no-fail method to eliminate jet lag; once I knew this I never had jet lag again, meaning a whole extra useful day at destinations more than four time zones away.

Experienced travelers learn a lot by trial and error; while they walk in your world, they are actually performing subtle maneuvers that reduce their odds of hassle by 95% or more. An infrequent traveler, by comparison, has a fifty-fifty chance of having a snafu on their trip. By buying this book you’ll avoid the usual pitfalls.

An experienced traveler with a three hour layover pops out of their chair an hour before the flight. They hunt for the Departures electronic panel, usually hanging from the ceiling in one place per spur, to check on gate changes or cancellations.

If there’s a change, you need to head toward the new gate, or find a staffed desk for your airline to deal with it.

A very experienced traveler installs the airline’s app on their phone. This sends a text warning the moment their flight is changed or cancelled. Then they hop right on securing another flight. The early bird gets the worm.

While airlines allow ‘one luggage and one personal item,’ the appearance of the personal item, its shape and how you carry it, makes all the difference. An obvious difference in size can help you breeze by the airline staff scrutinizing the carry-ons instead of being forced to check it (and pay the checked bag price). Hassle reduction is the heart of this book; when you know what will cause no hassle, some risk of hassle, or huge risk of hassle, you can decide for yourself if it’s worth it.

Packing light and efficiently for today’s airline flights, post-2014, is radically different than the typical outdated travel advice. New clothes in certain colors that mix and match are unnecessary. Scarves? Forget it. Unless you wear scarves all the time … then you already have them.

In addition to hundreds of flight tips, I’ve included a comprehensive list of things to do several weeks before the trip and then another for a few days before the trip. Forgetting some of these is usually not a disaster, but it does eat up mental energy and peace of mind.

This book is the collected wisdom from hundreds of trips. Much of it isn’t available on-line, even if you hunted for thirty hours. This book will save you money. But more importantly, it will reduce hassle. Stuff happens. But not to you. Enjoy.

You have everything you need to head off on a flight without shopping. But there is one thing I urge you to buy if you don’t already have them: support socks. The risk of blood clots from airplane travel is far greater than will ever be statistically analyzed because it would require airline cooperation to collect data. No airline would willingly expose themselves to that marketing nightmare. That doesn’t mean airline passengers can ignore it, especially when the cure is a pair of socks and an ibuprofen or aspirin at the start of the trip.

Blood clots do not happen only to old folks with circulation problems, or people who had hints of poor leg circulation before. They happen to athletic people in their 40’s without foreshadowing. In fact, the reason it happens is simply because the victims never had any reason to think it would happen to them.

First off, pay for the ticket using a credit card that includes traveler’s assistance. That information is in the fine print of the agreement, or can be checked on the credit card’s website. When something confusing or tricky happens in the midst of your travel plans, if you bought the airfare with a credit card that offers traveler’s assistance as one of the benefits, you have a little help coming from them. Have those domestic and overseas phone numbers in your phone’s contacts list plus written on a paper in your wallet in case your phone breaks or is stolen.

They have experience and will talk you through tricky situations. They can look things up on a computer monitor for you. They might have someone on staff who speaks the language you need, or can muddle through with a translation program like Google translate. It’s free. The stress of travel added to the noise and strangeness of the airport can leave you literally unable to dream up what to do next. They can talk you through it.

Most airline flights are milk runs. By that I mean the airline will have a 7:10 AM or a 4:35 PM flight from city A to city B every day of the week. If the time doesn’t work for you, it’s unlikely looking at next week or next month is going to produce a slightly later flight. You’ll need to look at another airline or make this time work for you. While the flights are milk runs, the gate may not be the same from day to day. Generally, an airline has a range of gates it has reserved in each airport and the next plane goes to an empty one. They don’t give it a lot of deep thought. Gates are decided one to three hours before the plane pulls into that airport.

While the flight is exactly the same time, the price is usually lower on Tues-Thursday, and higher Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. There are always exceptions. The real rule is, popular times and flights cost more, and unpopular ones cost less.

Three Ironies of air travel:

One: taking two flights with a layover in between can be cheaper than just going straight there. Taking three planes, cooling your heels in two hub cities, is usually even cheaper.

Two: flight prices between the same two cities can vary widely by time of day and day of week, with the airlines charging more for ‘desirable’ flights.

Three: is there is no relationship between distance and cost of flight. Don’t expect it. It can be cheaper to fly to Frankfurt, Germany than to Des Moines, Iowa. Round trip from Boston to Charlotte NC with a layover in Chicago can be cheaper than flying Chicago to Charlotte round trip, same flight. Do not assume it always costs more to fly to Rome than to Seattle WA.

Infrequent flyers are tempted to make decisions about where to go based an idea that farther away equals more money; heck, even old hands do it. For years I didn’t go to Hawaii because I thought airfare would be expensive—it ended up costing no more than going to DisneyWorld in peak season!

Airlines now sell only one-way trips. Unlike ten years ago, there is no financial hit for going there on one airline and returning on another.

As a convenience, some websites will show an estimate of the full round-trip when selecting the first leg, but the actual cost will be based on the return trip flight you pick; you’ll see when you get that far. Other airlines show just the first leg price. Check which way this site is doing it, or you might find the price appears to have doubled at the very end.

The corollary is that you can fly to one city and return from another. Some websites have a multi-city option, use it if it’s there.

Bid websites for air travel. Priceline.com is tops in this line. Doing this is fine for a mad-weekend or a repeat visit to a city in the US that you’ve flown to before, but I cannot say too strongly, don’t do this on a trip where time is precious. The savings are likely to be a poor trade for the inconvenient travel times and multiple layovers. These are only for old hands at traveling.

You can find out what flight times and costs are out there using websites like Kayak.com, Tripadvisor.com, Expedia.com, Travelocity.com, Bing.com, Skyscanner.com, Orbitz.com, Momondo.com, Vayama.com and others. Enter the date there and the date back between the two destinations. Let these travel sites do the searching for you, but when you find the flights to-and-fro that you like, don’t buy from them. Go right to that airline’s website to make the booking. AA.com, Delta.com, USAir.com, United.com, Jetblue.com, AirFrance.us, etc.

There are two very important reasons: one, if the flight is delayed or cancelled for reasons other than weather and you bought your ticket from the airline, they comply with what’s called Rule 240 to you get on another plane to that destination as soon as possible, even if it means using a competitor’s plane. If you can’t fly until the next day, they will put you up in a free hotel room overnight for free and give you free transportation to and from this free hotel; did I mention it’s all free? If you bought your ticket from ‘a third party’ which is what the search sites are, you have to contact them for help by phone, they don’t have a counter in the airport. Their customers are the ones sleeping in the airport overnight.

Airline customers: sleep in hotel for free.

Travel search website customers: sleep on floor in airport.

Which one are you?

In the event this delay happens, when they are preparing the voucher for the hotel, ask to stay where the pilots stay. It’s always the nicest place.

The later in the day, the higher the odds of a plane being late or delayed. Planes often land for only thirty minutes then are back up in the air, so issues anywhere causes delays right down the line.

Travel sites reveal airfare cost a day or two on either side of your travel day, which might show you can save $100 or $200 by flexing your travel plans. If making this decision merely to save money, please do the math on all the costs. Will you have to incur another hotel night and three more restaurant meals? Will parking cost another $22? Every time I’ve done the math, airfare that’s $200 less by shifting one extra day ends up saving pennies.

Conversely, lopping a day or two off this precious trip when you might never come this way again to save an amount like $150 will seem absolutely ludicrous four years from now. If you are gearing the trip to your available vacation days and you opt to spend one of those days padding around the house in stocking feet instead of eating the best gelato in Rome from Cremeria Monteforte while gazing at the Pantheon, come over here I want to smack the side of your head. Ditto if you are visiting the grandbaby for the first time. Or anything. Shopping by price is prudent, but it can be a slippery slope; depriving yourself of a day’s worth of pleasure for $30 or even $230 just doesn’t make sense.

There can be other issues involved with shifting plans left or right. There’s got to be another way to belt-tighten $200 over the next year; sell underappreciated gifts on EBay, grow peppers in pots, or my favorite, saving money by eating less, a.k.a. dieting.

To get a low price regardless of seat, set up a travel ‘bot to keep an eye on prices for those to-from airports on a range of dates instead of checking constantly. It will email or even text you. Kayak.com and other sites have the feature.

I will be honest with you; when you sign up for having the search site email you when your flight price goes down, they will use the email to send you daily emails if not more, and their affiliates may use it to also. Someday retailers will figure out that abusing their customers with daily emails is stupid, but for the short time when you need them, bear with it. After you have the flight booked you can block them or unsubscribe.

When to buy? That is a factor of where you wish to sit. The earlier, the more seat choice. How far ahead you can book depends on the airline. Some allow up to a year in advance, others only six months.

Most airlines allow you to view available seats a screen or two before you pay. You can check the seat availability, and decide to drop the money when there’s still a few of your favorite location left, whether window, aisle, near the front, left or right.

Spell accurately. When you buy the ticket online, type the name that is on your ID. If you use a nickname or change the spelling even a little, it will mean hassle and possibly not getting on your flight. When buying a ticket for a traveling companion, get the spelling of their name exactly as it is on the ID they will use.

Picking the seats. Sitting side by side is an obvious choice. Consider selecting aisle seats in the same row for both people. You’re side by side for easy conversation but neither sits in a middle seat.

When both parties wish a window seat and one is a minor, put the minor behind the adult, not the other way around.

Parents instinctively want to keep an eye on a minor child or teenager, but on an airplane a minor is much less anxious if he or she can see the parent at will, knows when the parent gets up or speaks to someone, and can alert the parent instantly without turning his or her head, or simply dart out a hand to poke a shoulder, if some issue arises. A parent in front can hear what is said behind them, often more clearly than they can hear the person next to them. If you are given split seating a few rows apart, place the minor more to the rear for the same reasons.

Flight prices drop when there are only middle seats left. If you book late when only middle seats are available, or you hate your row, it’s still possible to snag a better seat. Begin checking online for newly-available seats two or three days before the flight, and persist. Phone too, asking what seats are available. If nothing, inquire two or three hours before the flight. If still nothing, inquire at the booth at the gate. When passengers buy slightly more legroom seats and exit row seats, which are offered only on the day of flight, their old seats become available. Then there are last minute cancellations. Finally, the first row of coach opens up. Many airlines leave booking that first row for last, saving them to offer to women with babies or toddlers; if your flight has none or only one, the seat can be yours.

Pick a seat assignment when you book the flight, even if you don’t care. Each airline website is different, so hunt for that seat availability button, icon or cartoon of a seat. If you missed it, you can always open your reservation using the confirmation number, find the seat map and pick your seats. You aren’t stuck; you can change it as much as you like. If you check that plane on Seatguru.com later on and find your seat does not have a window or is a non-reclining seat, there’s still time to change.

Not all airlines allow third-party buyers to pre-pick the seat. This means buyers through the search websites get assigned what is left on the day of the flight, after the airline customers booked the good seats weeks ago. This is another compelling reason to buy only from the airline, never the search engine.

If you’re really new at commercial flight, you might ask: what’s the big deal about seat location? In general, window seats have a view but due to the curve of the plane have slightly curtailed foot space. People under 5’2” will not notice it. I’m 5’5” and I barely notice it. The under-seat space for a big purse or small backpack is smaller than the middle or aisle seat.

Aisle seats are considered roomier because there’s an option of sticking a leg out into the aisle. It’s a nice concept, but in practice it’s risky. Odds are every flight ends with at least one aisle passenger sporting a nasty new bruise on aisle-side arm or leg. Many a traveler leaves the plane limping after their foot is crunched by a cart wheel or stepped on by someone walking by.

Middle seats are the least desirable. Comfort depends on claiming rights to one or more of the armrests. The end people ought to lean towards their owned armrest and leave both for the middle guy. However, what actually happens is more related to back pain and weight.

Get the frequent flyer card. It only takes a few minutes. It’s an on-line application. Look for it in the toolbar on the top. You receive your frequent flyer number immediately. Write it down. Most airlines run special deals for members only. You might get them when you book using your number, or might need to enter a code (if you book without using the code, try phoning later with the code to have it applied). When any behind-the-scenes choice between customers is made, the card-holder gets the nod.

Price changes. On the internet, the price can literally change (always higher) if you poke around a site too much or revisit over a few days. How it does it is with cookies, little markers that appear from your computer visiting their site. This is not the same as malware that counts keystrokes; the part of the software that sees the computer at portal XDF433599-4403-3885 popped back three times in forty minutes so changes the pricing profile from D1 to D2 doesn’t know or care who you are. This is why doing the searching and thinking at one of the multi-airline search sites and then opening the airline’s website to book, when you have credit card in hand, gets you the best price. One visit, like a hawk, swoop and off with your prize.

Some experienced travelers go so far as to conduct their initial searches on their work computer, decide, and then swoop in at home. Some even hike to the local library to do the preliminary searches, then go home to book. I’m not kidding about this, the website keeps track of ‘node’ and how long it is poking around, and the more you look like a serious buyer, up goes the price. It’s not peanuts either, it can be $200 to $500.

On one business trip from Boston to Atlanta, the first time I looked, the cost of the flights were the same regardless of time of day; later than afternoon when I went to book, only the before 7 AM and after 8 PM flights were that price; the nice mid-day flights were almost double. For grins, two days later I checked again, and all flights had returned to the same low price.

Seat map.I prefer the airlines like Delta that provide a ‘View Seats’ button (the words are the button) right at the deciding point, instead of putting it just before you give the credit card number. Either way, be aware you can go entirely through the process, even up to entering a credit card number, and end the whole thing by clicking the upper right hand X to close the internet window. There are lots of ways to exit the process and only one path to getting a charge on your charge card, so step off whenever you feel like it by just leaving the site.

Prices vary mainly by flight month and how close the flight day is. The example here is for July 10th, searched six weeks before that date, Boston to Rome. This is the round trip price even though the return trip isn’t showing here. A Friday flight for May 16, booked in January, was only $1030. Wait until May 8th and that same flight was $2050 with only middle seats left.

FCO is Rome’s airport.

Once you have figured out the airline’s website, bought ticket(s) and picked seat(s), the airline will send you an email. Print this out, you will need the code written there the day before the trip to print out the boarding passes. Stuff happens, things get deleted. Print it upon receipt.

Don’t thank your lucky stars if you book a seat on a flight only half-full three weeks before takeoff. Airlines cancel routes less than 90% full on the day of the flight. Then the stranded passengers stand in lines to get seats on another flight to that destination over the next one to three days.

Having bought directly from the airline’s website and not from one of the search websites is worth its weight in gold at this point. Search website buyers have to run around finagling a new flight from scratch and fight to get reimbursed for the cancelled flight weeks later. The ones who booked with the airline have priority for getting another flight without paying more.

Premium coach seats. They are coach seats with a few more inches of legroom. If you buy one, you might be allowed to board first too. Each airline features them differently in the online seat maps. They appear available and selectable, but the next day if you revisit the site you’re listed has having no seat assignment. That’s because you didn’t pay for it.

Airline rules change faster than web technology or software can adjust to. The airlines aren’t going to discourage choosing a premium seat, but they haven’t figured out how make a seat choice lead directly to a credit card payment page. Also, they can’t seem to tell you what the extra charge would be by clicking it.

That’s as of this writing; it could have changed last week. Selecting a premium seat then leaving without paying could mean no seat assignment.

The cost of premium seats might drop to say, $39 on flight day that were $129 reserved four months ahead. If you wait, they could all be taken by flight time. It’s a gamble.

Picking a seat doesn’t mean it’s yours. You also have to get your boarding pass early. If a plane has a handful of empty seats, it’s yours. But most flights are overbooked, and an hour or two before the flight your seat will be handed to a no-seat-assignment guy. If you’re in line, you could literally be just behind the guy who usurps your seat. So print out the boarding pass the night before, or arrive three or four hours early to stand in the boarding pass line, then go eat or explore the airport.

Tip: Hotels will print out your boarding pass for you. Either they direct you to the computer for this in their business center, or will do it at the desk using your airline confirmation number.

Non-stop flights never land between start and end. Direct flights will land. It’s just as annoying as transferring to a new plane because they make the passengers get off with all their carry-ons. You cannot sleep or stay on the plane through the pit stop.

There are big planes and little planes. Commuter, connector or regional designations are cues that it could be a smaller propeller plane. Little planes hold twenty to ninety people and have next to no carry-on space. Passengers often go outside to board these planes by climbing up a steep staircase, and the bigger bags are tagged and set aside for tucking into … somewhere under the plane. If you have carry-on luggage and one of the legs of your trip is a small plane, the airline does what’s called ‘gate checking’ of your bigger carry-on items. When the plane lands, a handler fetches out the carry-ons, often lining them up on the pavement, and you find your bag. Don’t be surprised if you still have to go to the carousel to pick up your checked baggage. Airline policy pretends not to know they have these small planes. The situation is upsetting to people who meant to keep their carry-ons close to themselves at all times but now must hand it over. In the airline’s mind this isn’t really checking a bag, it’s stashing a bag a bit farther away from the passenger, that’s all. Women can keep their purse and anyone can keep something the size of a string bag with them. Something as big as a briefcase might not make the cut. See the chapter Packing the Bag for a string bag picture.

Picking the flight by connecting city. Frequent travelers do this often. For travel to Italy, for instance, you may have a choice of layover within the US, say Newark, Detroit or Boston, and layover outside the US, say in France, Spain or England. Although it can seem exciting to spend an hour in a bonus country, lean in favor of the US layover. Three reasons: one, a two-leg trip with one short and one long leg means less-interrupted sleep; maybe you’ll sleep on only the long leg. Two, less stress. If you get lost in Newark you ask questions and understand the answers, but not so in France. Three, if your checked luggage doesn’t make it, friends or family back home can take the reins in sorting it out and getting it to you without incurring international calls.

If you have a choice between a one hour gap between flights or a three hour gap, what you chose depends upon your tolerance for risk. Shorter means more risk. On flights to your destination the longer gap is safer, even with carry-on luggage only, because this provides space if the first flight lands late. It is unknown and unknowable what gates the two planes will be parked, close or far away. My experience is they are usually about as far apart as they can be more often than not, meaning twenty minutes minimum from one to the other. If you’re seated in row 27 it might take fifteen minutes just to get off the plane. If you’re not an old pro at this airport or with flying in general, stick with layovers longer than ninety minutes.

Early morning flights have the best on-time performance, so short layovers are less of a gamble in the AM. Odds of luggage not making it to the connecting plane go up after 5 PM. A two-hour layover provides the best odds. A very long layover, say five hours, is also risky, because they have to stash your bag in the corner for half their shift or over a shift change and it could be forgotten.